Beppu, land of hot springs.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

So today we enjoyed our first Japanese style breakfast. The hotel we stayed at last night came with a free breakfast. I must say, I enjoyed it quite a lot. They had those little packed rice triangles with seasoning sprinkled on top of them. There was also miso soup, mini hotdogs, some kind of pickled something, green tea, and bread. Pretty good stuff if you ask me. After we finished breakfast we got onto a train and headed south into Kyushu.

(Click to embiggen)

Unfortunately we didn’t actually look at a map and wound up overshooting our intended destination. We got back on a train heading the right direction and wound up at our proper destination of Beppo. Beppo is a town full of hot springs. We picked up some sushi at the train station and walked to Beppu Park to eat. While we were there, there was a guy practicing his BMX skills. I took a video and he was kind enough to flash me the peach sign on one of his passes. Today is a Saturday so there were quite a few people out. The park had a small bamboo grove that I absolutely loved. If I ever have the opportunity, I’m going to plant a similar grove on my own property some day. The park also had a section full of cherry trees that were blossoming. There were tons of people who were in the park for a picnic under the cherry blossoms. We didn’t walk through that section though, so I don’t have any pictures of it. I’m sure we’ll run into more later.

After we were done with lunch, we headed to the beach (Beppu is on a bay) to visit one of the hot springs there. For the first time Dad and I got to enjoy Japanese style hot spring. I stayed in the outdoor portion where you are required to wear a bathing suit. Dad was more adventurous and went to the indoor portion. (They alternate days between men and women for the no clothes spring. Today happened to be the men’s day. Both are allowed in the outdoor spring at any time) the hot spring had a nice view of the bay, not that the bay was all that pretty. There were a couple cranes in the bay, and it was kinda dull and gray out. It was still a really nice experience. And after 5 days of walking around with our packs, it was a welcome bit of rest and recuperation.

I wanted to see more of Kyushu so we are heading further south to Miazaki. I have no idea what’s there, but we are going to find out. I’m enjoying the slower train ride though. The shinkansen doesn’t run through most of Kyushu, so we are on the slower trains for most of our traveling here. Its slower, but it gives us a chance to actually see what’s passing by. I’ve found my camera’s sport setting to be great for taking pictures from the moving train. Sometimes it doesn’t focus on what I want though, and by the time I switch to manual focus, we have gotten too far for me to take the picture anymore. More of the cherry trees are blossoming here in the south. And they are everywhere. When you look at the mountains you see light spots among the trees. All of those are cherry trees. We also get a chance to look at peoples gardens. Lots of trees that are cut in the “nowari” style of pruning. It’s that typical Japanese style of pruning where the foliage looks modular and multi tiered. It’s interesting to see an entirely different style of home construction. Many homes are still built in the old style with the tile roofs and sliding doors. And by many, I mean almost all. Sometimes they have western style additions. But the houses all look very Japanese. Also there is much less written in English down here. From what I understand, tourists don’t make it down here too often. Fortunately I’m getting more comfortable asking questions and stuff in Japanese. My comprehension is also improving, though my vocabulary is still limited. I’m also picking up more Kanji. Fortunately its very contextual. So when I see a symbol next to the same picture enough times, I can start to figure out what it means. So far I think I can recognize the ones for: no smoking, danger, stop, and non reserved.

One thing I’ve noticed is that I love looking at the Japanese graveyards. They just don’t seem as grave. Bad pun aside, it’s true. Japanese graveyards don’t look so creepy and uninviting. They are made up of pretty much just the headstones. I think most Japanese get cremated instead of buried. (Saves space I suppose) I kind of regret spending time playing audosurf during this train ride. Not just because my battery is lower, but because I probably missed some really interesting scenery. I’ve never spent so much time traveling through new country before. All my traveling is done in familiar areas (where I already know what’s there) or on I-5 (where there is nothing to see anyway). I’m only seeing one side of the train, and it’s still really interesting, but we’re losing daylight, so we won’t be able to see much in a little while anyway.

I realized that I’m halfway through my time with my dad. It’s been good so far. I’m glad we get along well. I haven’t done any shopping though since we are packing everything around with us. We don’t have much of a plan either. We know we are gonna stop in at Nara, and Tokyo, but it’s pretty open as far as what we’re gonna be doing. Anybody have things they want me to try and find while I’m here in Japan? I know I’m gonna go and track down the huge Gundam statue. It’s on an island in Tokyo bay. (Don’t remember the name though, I’ll have to look that up). Anyway, please leave some comments either here or facebook or through email.

~Daniel